Ninety years of basketball, of victories, falls and rebirths that are intertwined with the sporting and civil history of a city. On the occasion of the 90th anniversary of Olimpia Milano, the most successful basketball team in Italy, “Scarpette Rosse. The history of Olimpia Milano” (Limina, 272 pages, €19.90), the book by Werther Pedrazzi, is back in bookstores, enriched by an unpublished writing by Andrea Gentile. The volume traces the long and intense parable of a club that has become a legend, capable of spanning different eras while always remaining at the center of the national and European basketball panorama.
The story begins in 1936, in Milan that changes face, when Triestina Milano lights a spark destined to last over time. After the war, with the merger with Dopolavoro Borletti in 1947, Olimpia was born: not just a team, but a laboratory of ideas, talent and ambition, in which some of the greatest protagonists of basketball were trained and established.
Pedrazzi tells an epic that goes beyond trophies, crossing symbolic figures such as the visionary intuition of Adolfo Bogoncelli, the leadership of Cesare Rubini, the arrival of the Greek Stephanidis, up to the winning cycles of the dream team with Dino Meneghin and Mike D’Antoni. The story also includes the connection with Dan Peterson, the distant echo of Kobe Bryant, and the magic on the parquet of Pittis, Fucka, Bodiroga and Gallinari.
The book alternates unforgettable exploits with difficult moments, when Milanese basketball risked dying out. Yet, as the author underlines, Olimpia has always found the strength to get back up. The secret, writes Pedrazzi, lies not only in the palmarès, but in the ability to transform victories and defeats into a collective memory, made up of sporting faith, citizen identity and shared passion.
Werther Pedrazzi, signature of the “Corriere della Sera” and “Dailybasket”, with a past as a player and coach, brings direct experience and passion to the table. The portrait of a “basketball lady” is born who, 90 years after her birth, continues to tell an infinite story. (by Paolo Martini)